


Until They Can be Made Unbreakable

by zarabithia



Category: Captain America (comic), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, F/M, Invaders Era, M/M, Mentor/Sidekick, POV Bisexual Character, Team Bonding, WWII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-13
Updated: 2012-06-13
Packaged: 2017-11-07 15:41:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's supposed to be in prison. Instead, he's watching <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> with a group of teenagers who think he should be a role model.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until They Can be Made Unbreakable

**Author's Note:**

> Written for queer_fest 2012 for the prompt: _Marvel Comics, Bucky Barnes, That they couldn't change his bisexuality, no matter how hard they tried, was the one act of defiance Winter Soldier was able to show._ Special thanks to Cero and Abby for the beta, help with historical research, rewatching Wizard of Oz with me, and general holding of my hands. 
> 
> Title taken from _“Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."_ ~ The Wizard. 
> 
> Continuity notes: Timeline goes A/U after Fear Itself and ignores Children's Crusade almost entirely.
> 
> Additional warnings apply: this fic contains references to "conversion therapy."

This wasn't where he was supposed to be. Bucky knew that much, and from the looks he received from some of the Avengers, they knew it too. 

He belonged in a prison, in the eyes of many of Steve's teammates. Whether it was a Russian prison or an American one, that didn't much matter. Hell, some of them probably thought that the blow to the chest he'd received should have been fatal. It was, for the things he'd done, a deserved fate. Just because none of them would say it out loud didn't mean that Bucky couldn't see that they thought it. He knew a lot of languages, after all. 

Some days, Bucky would have agreed with their assessments. He certainly would have agreed with the half-bitten back sighs and the unspoken protests that accompanied Steve's decision to have Bucky oversee the Young Avengers' training now that things had settled down and Steve was back in the role he always should have had, and Bucky had very little else to do with his time. 

Steve was trusting, always too trusting. It was wrong to leave _cubs_ under the care of a wolf. 

And that was exactly what the Young Avengers were. Cubs. They gave a great show of scratching, biting, defending, taking down the prey - but at the end of the day, their eyes were bright and trusting and their claws not nearly as sharp as they should be. 

They even invited him into their den, after the training was over. 

"Kate paid for it," Billy told him. The kid blushed, which wasn't a surprise, because the kid was always blushing. Always seemed a little unsure of himself and his powers, in a way that reminded Bucky of the way Toro used to shift around in the blankets on particularly cold nights. 

"Paid for the food, too," Eli supplied. It was a steady, calm, sure response; Bucky expected nothing less from Eli at this stage. 

Bucky glanced at the food - six pizzas, breadsticks, soda and a couple of bags of chips - and shook his head. These kids would never have survived the war, not if this was their idea of a post-sparring meal. 

_"That's what we fought to shield other generations from,"_ Steve's voice mentally chided him, which was fair enough of a point, but Bucky ignored the voice and pretended to be interested in what movie Cassie was choosing. 

" _The Wizard of Oz_ ," Kate said, by way of answering a question that he wasn't even asking. Which, well, yes, that _was_ the leader's job. 

Apparently, it was also the leader's job to hand him a cold root beer. "Eli tells me it's your type. I hope he's right, because none of the rest of us have such bad taste and it would be a shame for all that soda to sit in our fridge and rot." 

Her tone was as casual and light as the way she flopped against the couch. Cassie joined her, after starting the movie, and as the rest of the Young Avengers took their seats and claimed their slices of pizza, Bucky took a seat awkwardly on the floor, next to the couch. 

Kate leaned down and ran her fingers lazily through his hair. "You don't have to sit on the floor. You could join us on the couch, you know." 

"I'm okay here," he answered quickly, and maybe a little too quickly, because the rest of the Young Avengers were looking at him curiously. 

Right. Apparently sitting on the floor was weird. Another sign that he didn't quite fit into this new century. 

"I used to sit in the mud," Bucky claimed, a little defensively. "I can handle the floor." 

"You can sit wherever you want," Kate informed him. "We're just glad you accepted our offer. A little surprised, but glad." 

"Why are you surprised?" Abruptly, there was half a box of pizza thrust into Bucky's hands, and he tensed before realizing that the speedster was responsible. 

"Supposed to be eating," Tommy informed him, before returning to his seat. 

Bucky took a hesitant taste of his pizza, while Billy attempted to answer the question. They let Billy do that sometimes, when they were trying not to offend. He was the nice one, and his smile was charming in a way that could easily make you feel like a real asshole if you even looked at him cross-eyed. 

Another way he reminded Bucky of the way Toro had been, but he didn't mention that, anymore than he would praise their methods as effective strategy. 

"You're just not generally fond of the hanging out," Billy said finally.

Well, that was polite. 

"I'm supposed to be training you," Bucky answered. "And part of forming an effective team bond is spending down time together." 

"But this is different, right?" Billy asked. "I mean, this is _different_ , in a lot of ways." 

"But you don't mind, right?" Teddy prodded, and for a moment, Bucky was confused. 

Of course it was different. But why would he mind?

But in the absence of their words making any sense, Bucky observed Billy and Teddy's body language, because sometimes reading allies in the way that he would have read an enemy was important. He watched the way the two of them looped the fingers of each of their free hands together, and the way they looked at him intently.

Ah, then. The question became an obvious one, even as it went unspoken. But if there was one thing that Bucky knew about this new world, it was that when the question went unasked, it meant he didn't have to _tell._

Instead, he leaned back on his hands and watched as Dorothy's house was ripped right out the world she was familiar with.

~~~

_The bar wasn't anything special. There was absolutely nothing to make it stand out from the all the others that Bucky had gotten kicked out of. The bartender was just as willing to look the other way, as long as Bucky had the right kind of bribe, and just as unwilling to serve real alcohol to anyone, no matter the bribe._

_Bucky frowned at his drink and wondered if it would have given a better swirl, if 95% of it hadn't been water._

_"They say it's the war in Europe that's causing it," a voice next to Bucky informed him. "Not sure what the Germans are doing to cause our beer to taste quite so awful, but it's enough to make me forget that I'm against us entering it."_

_Bucky stopped frowning at his drink long enough to cast a long glance to the man beside him. He was taller than Bucky by a foot, dark green eyes and sandy blond hair. All that, hooked onto a slow Virginia accent meant that the night had just gotten 100% more promising.This wasn't going to be a night that Bucky went back to the base with a broken nose and bloodied up face._

_"Name's James," Bucky said, imitating the accent better than anyone else who had ever been born in Indiana could. "And it's funny you should mention that. I just happen to be a soldier..."_

_It was a lie, of course, because hanging around your dead father's army base didn't make you a soldier. But the truth wouldn't lure in fresh-faced Virginia farm boys, would it?_

~~~

The kids settled down, in smaller pairs amidst the larger team they were part of, and no amount of biting down on the inside of his cheek could make Bucky _not_ make the associations he didn't want to. 

In Billy and Teddy, cuddled together on their end of the couch, Bucky saw what Roger and Brian could have been in the open, if times had been different. With Tommy and Eli, Bucky always saw the prettier speedster that Jacqueline had been, but he also saw the thinly veiled arguments that Jim and Namor hadn't even bothered to hide. Jonas, stationed between them and his ex-girlfriend, quietly amused by the antics on the couch and looking like he wanted to join in, made Bucky want to tell him to just make a move already - the same way he'd always wanted to do to Toro, all those years ago. 

Kate and Cassie sharing breadsticks on their end of the couch... the leader and her younger partner.

Well, that didn't take a genius to make the association, did it? 

Of course, that was today. Another day, they might sit differently on the couch, and remind Bucky of Gwenny Lou and Davey or Knuckles, Jeff, Tubby and Whitewash instead. 

Bucky had more than enough memories to go around, after all.

~~~  
 _"I'll make a man of you," was the first thing the sergeant said to Bucky, and Bucky didn't even bother to roll his eyes at the ridiculous cliche of it all._

_"Is that part of the manual, because let me tell you, I've heard that from more than one grouchy sergeant," Bucky retorted._

_That particular comment earned him a nice latrine scrubbing duty. It didn't, particularly, make Bucky all that remorseful._

_"I thought you were supposed to make me useful to the army," he said, when the sergeant came in to check on his progress. "I already know how to scrub a floor, Sarge, so frankly this is pointless."_

_"You need to learn a hell of a lot more than how to shoot a gun, kid," the sergeant responded, and he said with enough irritation that his jawline visibly tightened._

_Bucky idly wondered how that jawline could taste - and completely relatedly, just how far the sergeant was willing to go to "make a man" out of Bucky._

_Bucky figured he had plenty of time to find out, between lessons in how to become a teenage assassin for the army._

~~~

By the time that Dorothy had bid the Good Witch and the munchkins good-bye, Kate's hand had slipped off the edge of the couch enough times that her fingers had claimed a near permanent place in his hair. It was odd, but the twenty-first century had a strange fondness for inappropriate boundaries and personal touching. 

Plus, she was a Hawkeye. Apparently that made those types of fondness even more accelerated, if Clint and his capacity for pinching Bucky's backside was anything to judge it by. 

He supposed it was inappropriate, but every time he tried to have that discussion, he was reminded of warm nights inside Steve's tent, and Bucky had enough sins on his belt. He didn't need to add hypocrisy to the list.

Besides, old enough to die on a mission, old enough to flirt (or more...) had always been Bucky's motto.

"You seem lost in thought," Kate said in a low whisper, staring down at him from the couch.

"It's the pizza," Bucky lied. 

"What did Tommy do to it?" Kate demanded, pausing the movie and shooting Tommy a glare that absolutely ruined her efforts to keep quiet. 

"I thought you ordered it," Bucky asked, his confusion genuine.

"No, she _paid_ for it," Cassie corrected gently. 

"You let him order something and paid for it without double checking the order?" Bucky asked in disbelief. "We need to have a discussion about your generosity levels, Bishop."

Kate started to answer, but Tommy's tongue was more than a little faster. "Why don't you like it? It has _potatoes_. I thought potatoes would make you feel more at home. Isn't that all you ate during the Depression?" 

It was Tommy logic, and Bucky wanted to laugh, but he bit back his amusement at the collective groan that came over the couch. 

"Potatoes are also a staple of Russian cuisine," Jonas commented, and the resulting silence was deafening. 

He took pity on them, then. Mostly because if Steve ever heard this story, it would ruin potato soup night, just the way it had ruined cabbage soup night, and the Young Avengers were not above tattling on Bucky to Steve. It was one of their endearing traits, Steve said, though Bucky had other words for it.

"Turn the movie back on, Kate. And don't worry, I was living off of potatoes long before that plane ever exploded," he said flippantly. 

~~~ 

_Steve's fingers tasted like the potatoes he'd been peeling an hour before, but there was a lingering scent of the mud he'd parachuted into, four hours before that._

_There hadn't been time to bathe, not yet, and sometimes Bucky really wondered how Duffy could miss things that should be so obvious, such as the lingering scent of battle on Steve. But that was just as well, because Bucky had every intention of getting Steve as dirty as he possibly could, and it'd be a shame to waste good soap that way._

_Judging by the way that Steve's teeth grazed along the strip of hair on the lower half of Bucky's belly in an effort to muffle his want, Steve apparently had a similar train of thought._

_"Better hurry it up, Mister Rogers," Bucky murmured, reluctant to stop anything that Steve's mouth was doing, but even more reluctant to not finish before they_ had _to stop. "Before the whole Fort wakes up."_

_Steve simply pulled his hands free, and Bucky really would have protested, except that they joined Steve's mouth and no red-blooded male could have protested the effect the combination had._

~~~

"Of course, some people do go both ways," the Scarecrow said on screen, and that was the end of the Young Avengers worrying about any psychological scarring Bucky might have had towards potatoes. 

Because there was a small smattering of laughter before a chorus of voices fought for dominance. 

"Yes, some of us do!" Kate exclaimed, her giggles mingling perfectly with Cassie's. 

"But some of us don't!" Billy and Teddy, almost perfectly together, as though this wasn't the first watching of the movie they'd had that particular opinion on. Well, it probably wasn't, Bucky allowed. 

"Some of us are _really_ loud." Eli's voice, and pretty accurate, Bucky decided. The Young Avengers were incredibly loud during a movie. He could think that, because Steve and Toro weren't here to point out that particular strain of hypocrisy.

"It probably didn't mean the same thing back then," Cassie said sensibly, and Bucky just took another bite of his potato-covered pizza.

~~~ 

_"So Jim's in love with Jackie," Toro bemoaned sorrowfully a few feet away in the tent they were sharing, because that's how it worked when the two of them were away from the rest of the Invaders._

_Poor Toro always had the love sick problems, Bucky thought with sympathy and a twinge of want for the other half he'd left back with Jim._

_"Why shouldn't he be?" Bucky asked, entirely reasonably, in his estimation._

_Toro rolled over and punched him in the shoulder in response._

_"Don't be a fuddy-duddy, Toro," Bucky told him. "I'm not trying to be unsympathetic. But have you_ seen _Jackie?"_

 _"You'd be saying something else if it was_ Cap _who was in love with her." Toro's words might have been harsh, but his voice even lower than it had been at the start, because angry as he might have been, a secret was still a secret._

_Bucky's voice was just as low. "Sure it'd be different. I'd be encouraging him to invite her into his tent instead of listening to your love troubles."_

__

~~~

By the time that the Dorothy and the Scarecrow had met up with Tin Man, Bucky's team was still arguing over whether or not Scarecrow was a bisexual poster boy. 

Bucky was too old to participate in this conversation, he was pretty sure. 

But that choice was taken from him when Tommy removed the box of half-eaten potato covered pizza and shoved another box of pizza into his hands. 

"Since you don't like potatoes," Tommy offered. "Have a white pizza instead." 

"None of you could have survived the Depression," Bucky finally gave in and stated the obvious, because there was only so much he could hold back, even with Steve's voice scolding him internally. Because really, how many different pizza toppings did a group of people need?

And why the hell didn't this pizza have any pizza sauce on it? 

"That's not true," Eli protested, and for a moment, Bucky had a lingering sense of guilt.

"Bullshit, Eli. Your mom lives in Scottsdale," Tommy scoffed.

"I don't live with her, asshole," Eli retorted and Bucky wondered if it made him a bad person for enjoying the ease with which the team he was supposed to be supervising used profanity. 

He'd add it to the list, really. 

"Hey, remember how we decided this was a stupid argument to have?" Cassie suggested, slightly irritated. 

"Well, if Tommy wouldn't - "

"If Eli wasn't such a - "

Both Tommy and Eli were cut off with well-aimed pieces of pineapple to the head that Tommy could easily have ducked, if he'd be paying attention. 

"Movie night. Keep the foreplay for later," Kate scolded. 

Kate received a glare for her efforts, and the argument might have started again, if Teddy hadn't interrupted and gotten them back on track. "I still say that Tin Man and Scarecrow were gay." 

"Nope," Cassie argued. "Dorothy and Scarecrow had a completely inappropriate relationship." 

"Inappropriate to say the least. What is Dorothy, twelve?" Billy pointed out. "And everyone knows that in the books, Dorothy and Ozma are soulmates." 

"Those are not the breasts of a twelve year old," Kate proclaimed. "If you want twelve year old breasts, watch Alice in Wonderland. The cartoon, not the movie, where everyone is kind of hot."

"I am never watching Alice in Wonderland with you," Eli said to Kate, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Alice and the White Queen, OTP," Kate said solemnly, and Bucky briefly wondered what the hell an OTP was. 

"No way. Alice and the Mad Hatter," Tommy argued. 

"You're awfully quiet," Kate said to Bucky, her fingers still playing with his hair. "If you're going to bond with us, you have to have opinions on fictional characters and their sexual habits." 

"I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be a _good_ influence," Bucky protested. 

"God knows this team needs it," Eli mumbled under his breath. 

"Don't make me hit you with a pineapple again, Eli," Kate scolded. "And don't make me hit you, either, Bucky."

"The horrors," Bucky scoffed, but at her pout, he sighed. He could never resist a doll's pout. "Fine. The Scarecrow was obviously in a committed three-way with Dorothy and the Tin Man. That's the real reason the Lion cries throughout the whole film. He felt left out."

There was a pause, in which all of the team just looked at him, and Bucky wondered if it was one of the times he should have been completely out of the loop about all things related to sex and gender. That was usually the safe route. 

Finally, Tommy said, "Huh. Orgies and references to bestiality. Wouldn't have guessed that."

"You can't have a proper orgy with just three people," Kate pointed out.

"But what are your thoughts on Alice in Wonderland?" Cassie asked.

On screen, the meeting with The Cowardly Lion pretty much went unnoticed by Bucky and his team. 

~~~

_They were, in theory, supposed to be on leave, which translated to being on a mission to get Toro a proper lady (or gentleman) friend. It also translated into Steve brooding off in the corner about being at a dance when they should have been on a mission._

_Steve would never learn how to appreciate a leave; Bucky had resigned himself to that fact already._

_But just because Steve wanted to brood in the corner didn't mean that Bucky had to. The floor was full of gorgeous dames just itching to get their hands on a handsome soldier. Who could blame them? Most of the men worth anything were off fighting, as far as Bucky knew. They had to be as thirsty for the men as most of the soldiers Bucky knew were for the women._

_So when a pretty little blonde twirled her skirt in his direction, Bucky grinned and asked her to dance._

__

~~~

"You know, it's hard to watch this film after watching _Wicked_ ," Billy commented, about the time that Dorothy's group was leaving Oz. 

"The book was better," Kate informed him.

"The book was boring," Billy argued. "And everyone was kind of a jerk. Hard to root for."

"You only like the musical better because it has more subtext," Kate argued. 

"That's a perfectly valid reason," Billy insisted. 

There were plenty of questions Bucky could have asked at that point. But any that he was going to ask were interrupted by Eli offering him breadsticks and explaining, "Wicked is a book and musical devoted to the Wicked Witch of the West." 

"I know," Bucky said, taking the breadsticks, because whatever the hell this white pizza was, it was pretty vulgar and someone really should have warned him against it. "Agent Carter warned me to stay away from it." 

Apparently, "For Good" prompted Steve to cry, and Sharon was right in her assumption that Bucky didn't ever need to see that. He saw it enough in his nightmares.

"Agent Carter, huh? That's Captain America's girlfriend, right?" Billy asked. 

"Quit _fishing_ , Billy," Eli hissed, and Bucky pretended that he had no idea what that was about. 

~~~ 

_"So are you going to marry her, or what?" Bucky asked, leaning slightly on Steve's shoulder as Steve sat and sketched pictures of the woman he'd left back in France. The rest of the group was trying to get some sleep. Bucky would have joined them, but the last mission was keeping him up._

_So was Steve, who was up for God only knew what reason._

_"Are you going to marry Gretchen?" Steve asked steadily._

_It was fair enough of a question. "I don't sit and draw Gretchen all the time."_

_"You don't draw anybody," Steve answered._

_"So don't answer me then," Bucky huffed._

_Steve folded his sketch over and turned to look at Bucky, lowering his voice. Because that was what war was for them - all hushed voices and loud explosions._

_"I care about her a lot," Steve said slowly. "She's beautiful and brave and everything that I could ever want in a wife. And you know I'm not like Roger and Brian. I like girls, too."_

_"All true things," Bucky agreed. Steve was the first person Bucky'd ever met who thought you could just like both. Just like that. Bucky's dad always said people only screwed around with the guys if they had a girl back home because they didn't have any other options._

_Steve often told Bucky that his dad was a jerk, though. Which made Bucky feel better about the rather obvious fact that he liked to screw around with the girls and the guys._

_"You know what else is true?" Steve let out a breath slowly, in a rare fit of frustration. "It's also true that you said this thing between us was just for fun. Just distraction, isn't that what you called it? You said that. Then you ran off with your team - "_

_"Yeah, so thing's change." Bucky shrugged and knocked his shoulder against Steve's lightly._

_"Do they?"_

_"Cripes, Steve. What more do you want me to say?" Bucky balled his fists and shoved them in his pocket. "You're beautiful and brave and everything I could ever want - "_

_Bucky's voice faltered there, though, the sarcasm running smack into the truth of the matter._

_Steve leaned forward and cupped Bucky's chin. "That's a good start."_

~~~

By the time that Dorothy had been taken captive by the Wicked Witch, the chatter of the Young Avengers had mostly died down and Kate's hand had stopped playing quite so much with his hair. 

By the time that Witch had melted, they had grown quiet enough that Bucky turned to check on them. (Steve was right - they did have a tendency to grow on you, after all.) 

Apparently, all that hard work that Bucky had put them through during training really _had_ been as hard as Bucky had thought, because the members of Kate's team were taking advantage of full bellies, warm bodies, and comfortable furniture to get in the kind of sleep that Bucky remembered stealing whenever he could, during the war.

Maybe they weren't completely hopeless. Maybe they could have survived back then, Bucky allowed. 

But there was no point in telling them that and inflating their egos. Instead, Bucky motioned for Jonas to come sit beside him. After all, if they were the only ones awake, it only made sense if Jonas wasn't stuck on the couch. It gave Cassie more leg room.

"You know, the first time I watched this, it didn't quite hit me what a supervillain the Wizard is," Bucky said in a hushed tone to Jonas. "But sending off a bunch of innocents to die so he can maintain his cover as the All-Knowing Oz? Pretty vile."

"I'm not sure he is evil," Jonas protested. "Perhaps he's just not thinking very clearly." 

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Jonas, that's not even a little bit subtle." 

"I didn't mean to imply - "

"And you shouldn't. Do waste time on implying. Just come out and state it, already." 

~~~

_"I'm promised to someone," she murmured._

_"He's an ass," the Winter Soldier answered flippantly._

_The ritual was similar, each time the Winter Soldier snuck into her room. He supposed it made her feel better about the sneaking around that they were doing._

_They could get in a lot of trouble._

_"They'll kill you if they find out," she warned._

_But he had no doubt, as he bent his head and met her lips, that it would absolutely be worth it._

~~~

Bucky didn't, particularly, have a whole lot of reason to watch touching scenes where Dorothy left Oz and was reunited with the gray, familiar world she'd always known. 

So he busied himself with cleaning up the pizza boxes, disposing of the half-empty soda cans, and cleaning the few dishes that were still in the sink. The Young Avengers were cleaner than their older counterparts - probably because Wolverine didn't live with them - but between the seven of them, Rikki and Anya, the clubhouse was building up some dirty dishes.

He'd have a talk about that with them, as soon as he could figure out a way to do so without sounding quite like the _dad_ he sounded like in his head .

Dishes washed, he returned to appointed scene of the bonding to find the team still asleep, except for Jonas. 

"I suppose we should wake them," Bucky said. "Pretty sure that's your job."

"Since you are both the team trainer and the person who wore them out, I feel that the job is yours," Jonas argued. 

Bucky chuckled at the spirit. They'd have the kid as human as Jim Hammond any day now. 

And since it was fair enough of an argument, Bucky did do the honors. 

"Aw, we missed Dorothy's tearful goodbye to her boyfriend," Kate complained as she stretched awake. 

"Well, it's not as though she could take her bisexual boyfriend back to Kansas with her," Cassie suggested. "I mean, Kansas, 1939? Who'd want to do be bisexual then?" 

"Yeah, really, who would?" Billy said, and Bucky pretended not to notice the look Billy gave him, or the sighing that Eli was doing.

~~~

_His hands were perfect in every way. His whole body was perfect, and no wonder they wanted to make it into a weapon._

_A very fine weapon it would make someday, but for now, it was his mouth that the Winter Soldier was concerned about, and the pleasures it could - and was - providing._

_There was something familiar about those large hands, and the gentleness that contrasted so easily with the bulky build. Something so familiar..._

_"You're my favorite," the Winter Soldier gasped softly, focusing on the present instead of a memory that wouldn't come to him._

_They could get in a lot of trouble for this._

_But he had no doubt, as he thrust into a mouth that held a sliver of familiarity that the Winter Soldier couldn't quite place, that it would absolutely be worth it._

~~~

"Yeah, that's a one-way ticket to a degayification center," Tommy agreed, and Bucky had no way of knowing whether that was a pointed interruption or simply Tommy's casual way of joining the conversation. "Wait, did they even have those yet?"

Either way, he would have smiled, except, "What the hell is a degayification center?" he asked. He could hazard a guess from what it sounded like, but he'd really like to be wrong. Just this once, the twenty-first century could live up to expectations instead of the way it always managed to do the opposite.

"Guess not," Tommy said, in answer to his own question. 

"Technically, they did. They just didn't call them that. Though, in theory, I don't think anyone calls them that now, either," Teddy answered. "Except rational people who know they are awful." 

"Conversion therapy," Billy offered. "Though, I think they sometimes call it reparative therapy? Mom's ... uh, had some strong words about it."

By the context, Bucky assumed that _this_ time, Billy was referring to Rebecca Kaplan, and not the Scarlet Witch. Which was good, because the Scarlet Witch was the only person besides Bucky who could make Steve make a certain kicked puppy face, full of the kind of guilt that should never be on Steve Rogers' face. 

"I'm going to have some strong words if someone doesn't tell me what conversion therapy is," Bucky said, more than a little irritably, because patience wasn't his deal and never particularly had been.

"It's where they lock up people who dare have sexual attraction to the same sex and try to 'convert' the gay out of them," Kate told him. 

"It's basically not therapy at all," Billy added, and he continued on with his explanation, shoving a Wikipedia page into Bucky's hands in the form of his iPhone. 

~~~

__

_To say that his handlers were upset at the Winter Solider was an understatement._

_"The Widow we could have overlooked. At least that was natural. Your current activities are not."_

_Disobeying his orders never, ever turned out well. Which is why the Winter Soldier followed orders when they were given._

_For the most part._

_"Such dirty things you've learned. We know where you've learned them from. We'll_ remove _them. As we have removed the rest of your flaws."_

~~~

It could be argued that Bucky needed a bit more subtly in his interactions with other people. Steve and Natalia would probably both agree with that. 

So possibly, there were better things to say than "What the hell is the matter with the twenty-first century?" 

Possibly, the other ways of asking would not have garnered him the same looks from the Young Avengers, and they were rather priceless at the moment, so it wasn't something Bucky would have traded. 

"While we have a long way to go, your period kind of sucked at the whole queer thing. You still use 'pansy' as a derogative term," Kate pointed out. "Kind of throwing stones here, Bucky." 

"No, it's not throwing stones, because it's seventy years later. This century is supposed to know better and not be making the same fucking mistakes," Bucky argued. He'd feel bad about cursing in front of the ladies, but Cassie and Kate were soldiers. They didn't count as ladies.

Clint said worse in front of Kate all the time, anyway.

"You seem pretty torn up about it," Billy said, and oh, the politeness was starting to get on Bucky's nerves. 

"You've got something to ask, Kaplan, then ask it," Bucky told him. "Stop fishing. Stop digging. Just ask. That I can respect. The rest of it is cowardly." 

Billy blushed again, and Bucky felt a tingle of guilt.

He'd add it to the list.

"It's just...you and Cap have been living together for a while," Billy began. "And there are rumors..."

"About things that aren't any of our business," Eli said pointedly.

At which point, Kate rolled her eyes. "No, whether you are tapping the Tin Man or Dorothy or _both_ is not our business. But it's natural to wonder. Because, frankly, both of you are the first and the best of what we do and ... well, it'd be pretty cool if you were queer, too." 

She was wrong, of course. Steve was the first and the best, but Bucky was far from it. 

But maybe that was a lecture for another day.

~~~

_The mission was successful. They usually were._

_The Winter Soldier contacted his superiors to let them know that the mission had gone well, and they rewarded him by allowing him to spend a chilly night in a warm hotel before the train left in the morning. No radio or television, of course, but he didn't need those things._

_Because he planned to spend the night with the brown-haired man that the Winter Soldier had decided to give himself as a reward for a job well done._

~~~

Bucky searched for the right words before clearing his throat. "Look, I'm not going to speak on Steve's behalf. If you want to know about him, you'll have to ask him. But as for me..." Bucky shrugged. "I've had my share of Dorothies and Tin Men."

And they looked so ... happy about it. 

Which, actually, ruined his whole plan for being angry at them for prying.

"Really?" Billy asked. "Because that's really great."

"Yeah, it is," Eli agreed. "Even if it wasn't any of our business. Thanks." 

"Guess that explains why you're so pissed at degayification centers. Seventy years of being asleep and a mindless weapon for the bad guys, and you wake up to a century full of assholes," Tommy said, and Bucky knew that enjoying the kid's bluntness made him a bad person.

He'd add it to the list, too.

"It's a little more complicated than that," he said, and he fully expected that to be the end of it. 

The kids knew about his past because they'd watched the news. There was no reason to cry on their shoulder about any more of it than necessary. 

But they looked so ... expectant. Bucky shook his head and wondered if he could get Steve to talk to the kids. Because if the kids were so thirsty for a good role model, they deserved a _good_ one.

"Let's just say that my bad guys were pretty fond of the 'conversion' therapy. For all that they could take away from me ... they failed to change that part. So I'm inclined to believe that your 'degayification centers' are full of shit, because far more successful supervillains have tried and failed to do what they're doing."

"Of course they failed. It's science. They couldn't have brainwashed you liking guys away anymore than they could have brainwashed your eyes into being blue," Kate said with a practical shrug. 

Or, Bucky thought, anymore than they could have brainwashed him into not sneaking into Natalia's room late at night. 

Still, "I think it's a little more complicated than that," Bucky began.

"It's not, really," Teddy promised. "We'll buy you a book about it sometime."

"And maybe a book about why we should never use Dorothy codewords outside of this room," Eli added. "Because similar, but different meanings lie beyond these walls." 

"Friend of Dorothy. I believe the phrase goes something like 'been there, used that'?" Bucky said with a grin. 

"Something like that. The grin says there's a fun story," Kate suggested, and oh, Clint needed to quit passing on that smirk to his sidekicks. 

"Oh, there is. But a six am training session with Black Widow says you kids need to get home and get some actual sleep," Bucky answered, and this time, he used his stern voice. 

Part of the fun of having an awesome ex was being able to use that influence for harsh training purposes. 

The kids grumbled, but they went, except for Jonas, who lived in the headquarters. Bucky watched them go and said his goodbyes to Jonas. Walking to his bike, he picked up his phone.

"Hey, movie night's over," Bucky said once Steve had answered. 

"Hurry home," Steve answered warmly, and Bucky could hear the sound of Rikki and Anya in the background.

"Of course," Bucky promised. "There's no place like it."

~~~


End file.
